dairy-free

Chocolate Mousse

/ pumpkinhoney / 1 Comment

Chocolate Mousse is decadent. Light. Airy. Creamy.

Chocolate Mousse is one seriously perfect dessert.

Chocolate-lovers & mere chocolate-likers alike will want more.

I finally found a recipe that was true to tradition.

And easy.

With only 4 ingredient, really.

Chocolate, water, sugar & eggs.

Thank you, Frugal Feeding.

Now, for the goods….

Don’t you just want to stick that spoon in your mouth?

The mousse on the spoon magically disappeared…

Into my mouth.

Note: Be sure to use high quality DARK chocolate for the best results. I used an additional 2 tablespoons of sugar & my mousse was, in my opinion, the perfect sweetness.

Click here for Frugal Feeding’s Chocolate Mousse recipe.

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Magical Brownies

/ pumpkinhoney / 15 Comments

Wow, it’s been a month. I’d tell you I’ve been busy, but I’d be lying. It has been an eventful month though. Don’t worry, I won’t disappear again. I have some great recipes to share for summer 🙂

What happened this May:

  • My oldest brother got married! Now, I have a wonderful big sister : )
  • Stephen graduated the SAME DAY from Penn State. And I had to miss it : / Bridesmaid duties.
  • But then I helped him move out of his apartment in State College.
  • I scheduled my classes for the first semester of my Global Environmental Policy  program at AU.
  • And bought the books for one of my classes… not including the one yet to be released. I also started to read one of said books… A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (it’s pretty fantastic).

These are celebratory brownies!

These are amazing brownies!

These are magical brownies! (No, not “special.”)

These are the brownies I never thought I’d ever be able to make from scratch 🙂

Let alone, make vegan.

They can be enjoyed by themselves. With a nice glass of your milk of choice. Or topped with a huge scoop of ice cream & some fudge sauce <—- yes, please. Brownie sundaes ❤

And make them I will, again and again and again for the rest of my life… so long as chocolate is available. I read an article recently that said the demand for chocolate is increasing so rapidly that the production of chocolate won’t be able to meet the population’s “needs.” Apparently, cocoa farmers/producers are straining their farms to produce greater quantities of cocoa than they realistically have the capacity to produce. AKA, the cocoa plants need more TLC than they’re receiving & are becoming weak. I wish I could remember where I read this. I’m sure, in our modern age, you can “GOOGLE” it.

Magical Brownies

1/3 Cup Chocolate Chips + (1/3 Cup Chocolate Chips optional)

1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder

4 Tbsp Coconut Oil

4 Tbsp Neutral Oil (Veg/Canola/Olive)

2 Ener-G Eggs

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup AP Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder (scant)

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Vanilla

1/4 Cup Almond Milk

Directions:

Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper & preheat oven to 350.

In a double boiler, over low heat, melt chocolate chips with cocoa powder, coconut oil, and vegetable oil.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, prepare Ener-G eggs (or flax eggs). Set aside.

In a medium-sized, mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder & salt.

When the chocolate is completely melted, add to dry ingredients.

Add the ener-g eggs, vanilla & almond milk.

Stir to combine completely. Add additional chocolate chips (for best results… aka chocolatey-ist) and stir.

Pour batter (it should be a bit thick) into lined pan.

Bake until toothpick/knife inserted in center comes out clean. EDIT: About 35 – 45 minutes.

I suggest checking on them every so often. I’ve baked them in a le creuset enamel pan & a glass pan and the time varied a bit.

Now cut them and….. (oh yeah, let cool a bit)…. NOW….

Devour!!!

Okay, I’m running to the grocery store so I can make these again today. These pictures are making my stomach RAWR!!

Double Chocolate Cookies

/ pumpkinhoney / Leave a comment

I wrote this post about forever ago… okay the same time that I made the Lemon Drop cookies… when was that? Just before Christmas? I never posted it because I forgot to take pictures. Well I’m posting it without the pictures! The next time I make these I will be sure to take pictures & add them to the post!

December 14, 2011 (according to my handy wordpress editing log)

What could be more different from a Lemon Drop than a super rich & chocolatey cookie? I find opposites make great pairings. I think most people feel that way? Mom wanted me to make her some cookies to take to a work meeting and I wanted to take some to Kutztown. I had already made the Lemon Drops but that was a small batch and split in half, there weren’t nearly enough to take to mom’s function. So I decided to make a Double Chocolate Cookie which is actually a triple chocolate cookie but we won’t go there.

I made a douuuuble batch of these douuuuuble chocolate cookies (aka the recipe below is for a double batch) so there would be pleeeenty to take some to Kutztown and still leave plenty for the meeting.

I also decided to scrub the oven door today. I was tired of not being able to watch my cookies bake. So I took some white vinegar & some baking powder & an old rag & some elbow grease and things got really gross. But now I can see my goddamn cookies.

Double Chocolate Cookies

  • 1 1/3 Cups Vegetable/Canola Oil
  • 1 1/3 Cups Unsweetened Applesauce (which btw I don’t get, why would you need to sweeten applesauce… apples are already sweet)
  • 1 Cup Brown Sugar
  • 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1 Cup Cocoa Powder (or 1/2 Cups each, dark & dutch)
  • 2 Tsp Vanilla
  • 2 Tsp Salt
  • 2 Cups AP Flour
  • 1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
  • 2 Tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips
  • 1 Cup Ghirardelli Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (oh dear lord, ecstasy) (also, did anyone else realize there’s a second “r” in GhiraRdelli? The more I look at it, the weirder it becomes.)

These cookies are simple. Like most cookies. Except french macarons. Which really aren’t that bad either.

Preheat oven to 325 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine oil, applesauce, sugar & vanilla. Add the rest of your ingredients and stir until combined. VOILÀ! Now chill the batter until it’s workable. Create balls, whatever size you like 😉 The cookies will spread so obviously don’t put them too close together. I know you’ve made cookies before, you know the drill. I DO recommend using parchment paper.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes. Definitely let cool a bit. They’re pretty soft.

Stephen loved these cookies, which probably isn’t saying much, since he eats most anything. But the ktown boys ate them up when we went camping so I took that as a good sign.